Saratoga News

News

Four apply for planning panel seat vacated

By Shannon Burkey

Four Saratoga residents have filed applications to become city planning commissioners.

After the 5 p.m. deadline on Jan. 24, Rishi Kumar, Jim Sorden, William Pack and Mary-Lynne Bernald all had turned in applications for the four-year position vacated when Commissioner Jill Hunter was elected to the city council in November.

Homemaker Bernald has lived in Saratoga since 1978 and served on the commission from October 1996 to April 2001. She was chairwoman for the 1999-2000 term.

Bernald said she loved serving on the commission at that time and that is one of the reasons she is applying again.

"I enjoy being involved in the community and I think this is the perfect place to do it," she said.

Bernald says that she will bring knowledge of the types of things the commission deals with and she thinks that will be a helpful asset for her.

"I'm not coming into this with an agenda. With my prior experience as a planning commissioner, I know you have to take each application on a case-by-case basis," she said.

Since retiring six years ago from his job as vice president and regional director of Citigroup Smith Barney, Pack said he has worked to give back to his community and becoming a planning commissioner is another way for him to continue what he started.

"I'm fundamentally motivated by the fact that my community and career have been pretty good to me. I'm young enough to have the ability to contribute and I think morally and ethically you owe it to the community to give back," he said.

Pack, who has been a resident since 1990, said he has no ax to grind when it comes to development in Saratoga, but if appointed he would like to see the city's population density not grow any more than it already has.

"The reason most people moved here could be diminished if the population density is allowed to continue to grow," he said. "It is important for the community to have renewed structure and infrastructure, however not at the expense of sacrificing the community."

Retired engineer Sorden has been a resident of Saratoga since 1970. He recently ran for city council, but was defeated in the November election.

Kumar, a resident since 2001, has been actively involved in the community since he arrived. Among other things, the IBM software engineer set up a neighborhood safety watch team in his neighborhood, is the president of the Roma Ridge Homeowners Association and is a division manager for the American Youth Soccer Organization.

Neither Sorden nor Kumar was available for comment.

Now that applications are in, the next step in the process will be for the applicants to meet with council members, who will interview each person individually on Feb. 21. After all interviews are completed, council members will select the next commissioner.

The new commissioner will take the oath of office on March 7 during the council meeting.